


When Heroes Meet

by BlackFalcon1800



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: It's just straight up an excuse to write a fic based on a picture I saw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-23 06:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18148385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackFalcon1800/pseuds/BlackFalcon1800
Summary: Some suspicious activity has been happening in Gotham city and the Autobots are called to help. However, the local hero is not aware of their existence, and is in for a surprise when the titans appear.(Originally Written:) 05/21/2015





	1. An Assignment in Gotham

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie, I have basically no recollection of what happens in this story, it was all a blur. I did promise that I would post all my old fics on here and this one is no exception.

"C'mon Prowlah! Take a break will ya? Ya been working all day!" Jazz pestered, pulling on his arm but with little success. The Datsun stayed planted firmly in his chair despite the attempts to pull his arm out of socket.

"I can't right now, these reports are important and I need to get them done. And in case you didn't notice, you're keeping me from them. Maybe later." He replied, trying to reclaim his limb from the other, using the edge of his desk for leverage.

"Later will end up being after work and you'll say ya need ta recharge so you can start work early in da mornin', but you'll end up workin' half da night instead! Just a short break won't kill ya, besides you know da human sayin': 'All work and no play is a crummy way to spend your day!' So c'mon!" Jazz countered, pulling with renewed vigor on the appendage.

"I don't think that's how it-"

He was interrupted by a comm. And from Jazz's face it looked like he had gotten it too. His arm was released, the force of him trying to get it back cause him to nearly fall on the floor. Ironhide's voice was heard over the communications link.

::Everyone, Prahm has called a meetin' concernin' an important mission. Ya'll need ta report ta the meetin' room, pronto!::

As the comm ended Prowl got up from his desk and headed for the door with Jazz on his tail, their earlier banter all but forgotten except for the pain in the tactician's shoulder.

They walked down the halls of the Ark toward the meeting room. "Whatcha think this mission is gonna be?" asked the saboteur. "I don't know, but we will find out when we get there." replied Prowl. "Wow, I never would have guessed we would find out about a mission in a meetin' 'bout a mission. Good thinkin' Prowl!" His joke was met by a glare, but he simply returned it with a grin. The glare on his face lessened, he could never stay mad at Jazz for very long. There were times when the smile did not cheer him, but he was not totally immune to the extreme optimism.

They had reached the meeting room by now, when they walked in they were met by a small group of selected mechs, including Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet, Mirage, Perceptor, and a few others who were still walking in. Each mech took their seat as the Prime called the meeting to order.

"I've called you all here because I have received a request concerning some possible Decepticon activity from a place called 'Gotham City'. They reported vehicles that matched the description of some Decepticons and alerted us fearing that their city might be under attack. As their police force is already stretched thin-what with all the criminal activity in the city- they have asked us to investigate since we would be better qualified at dealing with this situation should their suspicions be true.

Because this is an unconfirmed sighting there will only be three mechs on this mission. I have chosen Prowl for the roll of leader, Jazz and Mirage, you will accompany him.

Since Gotham city is such a great distance from us, and they have enough trouble of their own to deal with, the citizens are not aware of our existence, neither us nor the Decepticons. Only the mayor and the police commissioner know of us, and they have taken extreme precautions to keep it that way. So on this mission it is imperative that you use extreme caution and stay in your vehicular mode at all times. Are there any questions?"

A blue hand was raised.

"Yes Mirage?"

"I was just wondering why we would need to remain in disguise. I mean, are they afraid we would hurt them? Or have they never encountered aliens before?"

"The reason you should not reveal you true forms is because their city is overrun with super villains, several of which have caused massive destruction and caused multiple deaths with giant robots on more than one occasion. Your presence could cause a panic to break out, thinking that they were under attack."

"Sounds like a fun place to live." Ratchet deadpanned.

"Thar is no actual proof that the 'Cons are there, right? So, this could end up bein' nuthin'?" asked Ironhide.

"That is possible, and let's hope it is." replied the Prime.

"If there are no further questions then we can discuss when you'll leave."

Jazz raised a hand, but before he could get permission he asked: "So it's basically a recon mission?"

"For now, Jazz, yes it is."

"Dat's all I needed ta know." He said, and he kicked his pedes up onto the desk.

"Good. You are going to be staying in Gotham for an earth month scouting for Decepticon activity. If you don't see any sign of them by the end of the month you will return here. Ratchet, I need you to give them each a full medical evaluation before they leave. It's a long drive to Gotham so you need to be ready first thing in the morning. Meeting adjourned." He said as he rose from his seat. The others got up one by one and made their way back out through the door.

As the mechs wandered back to their respective stations Jazz followed Prowl back to his office.

"I never heard of Gotham city before, have you?"

"No, I can't say that I have. It doesn't sound like a very cheerful place."

"Yeah, super villains attacking people with giant robots on a regular basis? Man, dat's messed up. They shouldn't have to deal wit the Decepticons on top of all dat."

"Well, hopefully this will be nothing more than one of those long missions where it turns out to be nothing more than paranoid humans seeing things."

"I agree wit ya on dat. As much as I love kickin' 'Con tailpipe, I'd rather do it here on our turf where there won't we a hundred humans underfoot. Ya know how big Prime is on keeping the natives safe."

"I'll never understand why he finds them so fascinating. If they're not in trouble, they are causing trouble. Aren't there any humans out there who aren't complete idiots, can take care of themselves, and actually try to save people just because they should be saved, and not for the glory of being a hero?"

HEREISALINEBREAKSOMEONEPLEASETELLMEHOWTOMAKETHOSEONHERE

Meanwhile in Gotham city:

A dark figure was perched on the corner of a building, completely unnoticed by two cars in an alleyway. They were facing each other and he didn't see any humans entering or exiting them, but he had heard voices coming from inside them. He observed them and listened closely to their conversation, hoping for information on any plan they might have. He had seen them before, acting suspiciously, not like a car should. He knew there was something off about these cars and their owners. But he was not sure what. He turned it's head and listened.

"So, how long until we raid the place?"

"I dunno, nobody ever tells us anything. But I have a feeling it might be soon."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I overheard the Screamer whining about how if he was leader we would be done by now and be safely back at the base. Ya know, the usual routine. And then boss said 'silence you fool!' (What else is new?) And said that he wouldn't have to wait much longer because almost everything was ready for the attack. So hopefully we will be outta drearyville and back home within the week."

"I really hope so, I'm sick of all this sneaking around and undercover stuff. Why are we undercover at all? Don't we usually just bust in and wreck the place? Why the caution all of a sudden?"

"I dunno, maybe his processor's glitched or something. Like I said, they don't tell us nothing. Well, we'd better get back soon or we're gonna get worse treatment than the Screamer does."

The two vehicles left without another word. The figure sat for a minute thinking about what he had just heard. What were they planning to attack? Who was 'The Screamer'? Who did they work for? And just how soon were they going to attack this place? And what did they mean when they said 'his processor's glitched'? While their conversation had not revealed very much information, they had left the figure with a lot more information than they thought. And as the figure disappeared into the night he pondered these questions. While this conversation was not that different from that of other thugs, there were certain aspects that intrigued him. This was definitely a case that required investigation. Little did he know this was going to be a very interesting case. A very interesting case indeed.


	2. They don't call it GOTHam for nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw I have not read this at all while posting it. I'm just copying and pasting because I'm afraid I would pass out at the utter lack of plot that this has if my memory serves me (which it probably didn't)

The three mechs that had been chosen for this mission were in a storage room packing supplies. Mostly energon, since that was pretty much all they were going to need besides their weapons and comm links. At the moment Prowl was getting a medical examination while Jazz and Mirage were packing energon cubes in their subspaces.

"I'm kinda hoping there are 'Cons in Gotham, it'll give us something to do. They've been awfully quiet lately." said Mirage as he finished filling his subspace.

Jazz had also finished and the two mechs walked out of the storage room and down the halls towards the med lab to greet Prowl after he finished his check-up.

"That could be why we haven't had any problems with 'em lately. They probably been plannin' somethin' big this whole time, somethin' that can only happen in Gotham. Maybe another power plant? No, they could get those anywhere. Maybe it's worse than stealing, maybe they teamed up wit one of them super villains dat Prime told us about and they're plannin' on taking over da world!" the black and white mech worried.

"It is possible that the Decepticons would team up with a super villain, but it is highly unlikely that the partnership would last more than a few days. When they're not getting stabbed in the back, they're doing the stabbing."

"Who? The 'Cons? Or the super villains?"

"Either one, probably both. Anyway, I think you're right about Megatron planning something big. They're like sparklings, the only time you should be worried is when they're quiet."

At this Jazz burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that he was bent over and clutched his stomach from the force of it.

Mirage let out a chuckle at his friends hysteria. "What's so funny?"

"Aha ju-just what ya said about the 'Cons actin' like spah-sparklings, aha, made me picture them fightin' like sparklings over everythin'! Aha ha ha ha!" He burst out again, his laughing fit renewed with the reminder of the humorous image. Mirage joined him in his mirth at the picture that was described.

"Ha ha! Th-they do act like sparklings! Their always fighting over who gets to b-be leader. Aha ha ha! 'I'm the leader! No, I'm the leader! I wanna be leader! No, me!'" "I think we should attack the humans!" "No, I think we should attack the Autobots!" "I'm a much better leader than you are!" "No, I am!" "I am!" And they started laughing all over again.

As the two laughed over the childish portrayal of their enemies Prowl had finished his examination and heard them as he walked down the hall. He turned the corner to see them still trapped in bouts of laughter. "What's so funny?" he asked out of curiosity.

They stifled their laughter as best they could at his question, though a few giggles escaped despite their efforts.

"Nuthin' man! Just Decepticon sparklings!" Jazz blurt out. "What?" Prowl wasn't even sure he wanted to know anymore. "It's nothing important." assured Mirage. "We were just on our way to get you." "Oh, well we need to go over our course for tomorrow. Follow me." He lead them to his office and pulled out a map from his desk. Laying it out on the desktop he pointed to a line that started at their base on the map and made a twisted line towards their destination "I've mapped out the route we're going to take, and it should get us there in about a day and a half. Have you packed yet?"

"Yes sir" "Yup!" the team members replied.

"Good. Now from the time we leave tomorrow morning to when we either return or engage the Decepticons, we are to stay in our vehicular modes at all times. We will communicate via comm link while we're there so as not to arouse suspicions."

"This is gonna be fun." Mirage said sarcastically, and then groaned. "I'm gonna be soooooooo stiff by the end of the month!"

The next morning:

They got up at the crack of dawn and left right after refueling and were sent off by Optimus. They were currently driving down a dusty road in the middle of a desert, with Jazz and Mirage singing '99 energon cubes on the wall'. By 68 cubes Prowl decided he was going to kill Spike for teaching them that song. It was so repetitive! It was like an annoying perpetual motion! What insane asylum escapee wrote this?

When they got to 42 cubes on the wall he couldn't take anymore. "Jazz...Jazz...Jazz!...JAZZ!" "Ya take one down, pass it around, 41 energon cube- what? Sorry man, what did you say?" "Can you sing something else please? That song is driving me crazy!" "Oh, sure man! We can finish it later. What do you wanna sing 'Raj?" "Um...let me think...Ooh! How about this one?

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens."

"What in the Allspark?" said Prowl.

"I know this one!" said Jazz as he joined in.

"Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens."

"Wild geese that fly with a moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things!"

They sang together.

"Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!"

"I'm surrounded by idiots." Prowl grumbled.

Undaunted by his grumpiness they continued singing. "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver-white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things!"

The classic song was starting to grow on the police car. It did have a nice tune, even though the lyrics were a little odd. At least it was better than '99 energon cubes on the wall'.

"When the dogs bites! When the bee stings! When I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feeeeel so baaaaaad!" They finished with a flourish.

"That was a good movie, lot's of great songs." Said Mirage.

"Yeah, it was. Now let's sing something a little more upbeat!" announced Jazz.

"Dare to be stupid!"

"Oh no, not this!" Groaned Prowl. Why couldn't they sing songs like the one they just did? He was just starting to like them.

To Prowl it felt like it had been a half an hour before the song was over. They sang all sorts of songs throughout the journey. Prowl didn't hear most of them for he had turned off his audio receptors after a while. When he was sure their voice boxes were completely worn out he turned them back on. He vented a sigh of relief when he discovered they were no longer singing. But his happiness was short-lived when Mirage burst out in another upbeat song.

"How about we take a break with the songs Mirage? We should really start using our comm links now, we'll be there in a few hours and don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Aw c'mon man! Can't we have a little fun? It's boring just driving down this road." Jazz pleaded.

"Well...You can sing to each other over your comm links, just not out loud."

"Thanks Prowl!" the visored mech said over the comm link. "Now where were we? Oh yeah! 41 energon cubes on the wall! 41 energon cubes! Ya take one down, pass it arou-" Prowl quickly cut off the comm at his end and left the two singers to their fun.

By now they had long left the desert behind and were driving through a densely populated forest, and on top of all that it was getting dark, making the forest seem a bit ominous. Good thing they should be arriving at Gotham any minute.

As they drove through the dark forest they could start to see the tops of the buildings right above the treetops. They continued to drive down the long winding road. Prowl could hear Jazz quietly listening to the radio, but it was switched off when they came to the outskirts of Gotham. This place seemed like a city and a graveyard at the same time. It was very busy, there were lots of people going about their business, cars driving around the densely populated streets, but at the same time they felt like they shouldn't say anything or make any sound, it was weird and spooky. Maybe it was the stone gothic buildings that were scattered around. Maybe it was the gargoyles on the corners of those buildings glaring down on those who passed. Maybe it was just because they had arrived at night, it might look more inviting during the day. Whatever it was it was making the Cybertronians uneasy, the sooner they finished this mission the better.

"Boy, this place gives me the creeps! Maybe that's why the 'Cons chose it." Jazz shivered.

"I almost feel like we should have painted ourselves black before coming, it might have helped us blend in better." said Mirage, looking nervously at a gargoyle on a nearby building.

"This is just another city, there's no need to get so worked up over some architecture." Prowl said.

They drove around the city taking in the sights and familiarizing themselves with the layout, also checking for any signs of Decepticons. While it was highly unlikely that they would see any within the first hour of their arrival there was no harm in trying to end the mission as soon as possible. And it was not because they were afraid of the dark city. Even though it had given a very threatening appearance at first glance they grew used to it and thought it interesting, beautiful even.

"You know, this place grows on you after awhile, maybe Optimus was exaggerating when he said it was overrun with crime? I haven't seen any crime so far, have you?" questioned Mirage.

As if he had been heard by Murphy himself they heard a high pitched scream coming from an alleyway down the street.

"Ugh, spoke too soon." he grumbled.

They immediately sped over to the mouth of the alley where they had heard the scream originate from and saw a sight that confirmed Optimus' statement about the city.

The body of a woman was lying against the wall off to one side, blood pouring from severlal stab wounds in her torso. A man in a hoodie stood over her holding a bloody knife in his hand, blood splattered on his front. The screams that they had heard came from another woman across the gruesome scene, pressed against the wall, blood on her face from a gash on her head, tears streaming down her horror stricken face.

Jazz didn't waste a second and transformed into his bipedal mode, ignoring Prowls cries of 'Jazz no!' he ran over to the murderer. Unfortunately the man had seen the cars racing toward them and started running. He ran into one of the buildings where Jazz couldn't follow and disappeared from sight. Prowl and Mirage had transformed as well since the woman had already seen them, fortunately the alley would shield them from anyone in the street. Prowl went to the dying woman, but one look and he knew she was dead.

"I'm so sorry ma'am, there's nothing we can do for your friend, she's gone. We'll find the man who did this and bring him to justice."

But the woman screamed again in response, she scrambled onto her feet and ran to the mouth of the alley screaming 'Help! Police! Giant robots! Murder! Help me somebody!' all the way.

When she had turned the corner they thought that their troubles were over. But then they heard: "What is it ma'am?" "There are giant robots in that alley! My friend is dead! They're gonna kill me! Please help me!" "Alright ma'am, just calm down, we'll look into it. C'mon Earl let's check it out."

They heard footsteps coming toward them. But the alley was too small for them all to transform, and even if they could it would look pretty suspicious having three cars in a narrow alleyway, especially if one was a police car. The police would think they belonged to the murderer and run their plates and find out they were not registered here, and the investigation would eventually lead to the discovery of their true identity! But the officers were at the only exit! Only here a few hours in and already they were about to fail their mission.

The officers sat the woman down in the back of their cruiser and turned towards the alley. They took out their flashlights and cautiously made their way to the mouth. They turned the corner to find that the woman was right in her accusation.


	3. Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sings* I don't know what's happening either!

It had been a few days since the dark knight had heard or seen anything concerning the strange vehicles he had seen. They must have gotten a chewing our from their boss and were taking extra measures not to get caught. But they would not be able to hide for long. Even the best can sometimes mess up, and from what he had heard, these two didn't sound like they were anywhere near 'the best'. So until he found them again, he would just have to settle with researching them.

He had deduced quit a lot from their conversation. 'Screamer' was possibly a high ranking officer who had a jealous streak in him, and evidently liked to whine a lot. He was most likely insulted and beaten by his boss, so they must have an interesting relationship. And apparently their boss was usually very loud and not very subtle when it came to attacking. All that plus the attitudes of the two henchmen showed that they were not very stable or trusting as a group. They were lead by a dictator who beat those that didn't obey him.

Something that intrigued him the most was when one of them said that their boss's 'processor was glitched'. At first this hadn't made any sense, a processor was a computer devise, so what did that have to do with his mental capabili-...unless...maybe his processor was his brain? Perhaps their boss was an AI? But if just their boss was a robot, than wouldn't the thug have just said 'brain' by default?...Oh...They were all robots. That would explain why he didn't see anyone exiting the vehicles, they didn't want anyone to see them and blow their cover!

But then, what place would a robot want to attack? Did they need money? Power? World domination? This would require a little more research. And the best way to learn about them, was to observe them.

A dark figure jumps from rooftop to rooftop searching for these mysterious robots. He searched for hours and hours throughout the entire town with no luck. They must have really tightened security recently.

Just as he was about to give up for the night he heard a crash and a familiar voice say 'oh scrap!'. Gotcha.

He swung over to the source of the noise as fast as he could and saw a familiar vehicle pull out of a parking lot and race down the street. It was definitely one of the cars he had seen the night of their strange conversation. He quickly pursued the vehicle down the street, but it must have seen him somehow, for it started going even faster than before, erratically swerving around other cars in it's haste to escape. He knew he would not be able to keep up at this rate so he quickly called for the Bat-mobile. A minute later it sped up the street towards him and stopped. He swung down from the rooftop he was on, jumped in, and continued the pursuit. Unfortunately the setback caused him to almost lose the suspect, so he sped after him with everything he had. The supposed robot was an exceptionally good driver now that he had the extra head start, he was no longer driving like a panic stricken suspect, but more like a professional race car driver enjoying a street race.

They came to the docks eventually, still in hot pursuit. This guy knew what he was doing, for there were tons of crates everywhere, huge stacks, long lines, and the random lone crate were scattered everywhere creating a maze that would change almost everyday with the new shipments. There was no way to memorize where to go because of this, so they were both at an equal disadvantage here.

The vehicle raced up and down random isles, somehow never crashing, with the dark knight on his tail every second. But the hunted got too cocky for a second and didn't give himself enough space to turn a corner around a nearby crane. He turned too soon and tore a gash in the driver side of the car from a piece of metal that was jutting out on the base of the crane. Batman heard a shout of what he could only guess was a shout of pain and saw the car swerve for a second. It sped around a corner and he heard a strange mechanical whirring. He sped around the same corner and saw...nothing.

The car had disappeared. But there was no place it could have gone, there were crates on either side for a good 100ft, not a single break on either side. He drove down the road looking on either side for any kind of exit, but there was nothing. Had it really disappeared into thin air? This must be a truly advanced set of robots to be able to disappear like that. Then he noticed something, there was a trail of bright pink coming from where he had pursued the vehicle. What in the world?

He got out of the bat-mobile and crouched by the trail. The caped crusader collected a sample of the pink stuff in a vial; being careful not to get any on himself, who knew what this stuff was? Then he turned to gaze upon the end of the line of pink. It was very strange, right where the trial ended there were splatters of the stuff on the nearby crates and on the ground. Like whatever caused the stuff had spun around before disappearing. But wasn't the car the one that had gotten hit? The gash hadn't looked that deep, and even if the driver had been the one that was injured it wouldn't have left a trail on the outside of the car.

Everything was starting to add up now. The pink stuff, the strange disappearance, the lack of drivers. It all pointed to one thing: The cars were the robots. But that still didn't explain how it had disappeared.

As Sherlock Holmes would have said: the plot thickens. The more he looked into this case, the more he was surprised. Well, as surprised as a stoic hero can get. At least he had this pink stuff to go on, maybe it would tell him something.

Before leaving the scene he drove around the area where the vehicle had disappeared in hopes of finding more of the trail. But not a spot of the stuff could he see anywhere but between the crane and the strange splatter.

Having completely lost the robot/car for the time being, the dark knight got back into his equally dark ride and sped for the bat cave, hoping that this strange stuff would tell him what he needed to know about these unusual beings.

As he drove home he pondered what he had learned of these curious people...robots...vehicles...whatever they are.

Back at the bat cave he got right to work analyzing the strange goop. Alfred came to check in on him later that night and found him staring intently into a microscope, the screen in front of him covered in his research. The butler sighed internally at his boss and friend's lack of self care. But that is what a good butler is for; taking care of their masters when they do not, among a lot of other things.

He brought down a cup of tea for the busy man and then left him to his work. He hoped that his master would not spend all night working, he had a charity ball to go to the next day as Bruce Wayne and didn't want this to affect his health. Well, he would check in on him again in an hour or two, and if he wasn't in bed by then than he would make him go to bed. Stopping the Joker from blowing up the city was one thing, but chasing a possible enemy who has not caused any harm is another.

Meanwhile, that busy man had made some interesting discoveries about the pink stuff. It was comprised almost entirely of energy, so it could be used as a fuel source. It also had the ability to be molded into various solid forms. Since this seemed to be their blood he could use it to his advantage in capturing and interrogating them. All he needed to do was make a few chemical modifications, and it should do the trick.

Since he knew that his new energy trap might not be enough, he modified some of his tools to a more effective stage. Small weapons like this weren't going to be enough on cars, so he boosted the energy on them. If this doesn't stop them, then he will find what does.


	4. Decepticons at Last!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I make this 5 chapters? Because I wanted it to be deep and well written..............yeah that didn't happen

The officers sat the woman down in the back of their cruiser and turned towards the alley. They took out their flashlights and cautiously made their way to the mouth. They turned the corner to find that the woman was right in her accusation.

There was the dead woman, clearly murdered, but there were no signs of any giant robots. "There she is. Poor thing, didn't have a chance."

"I guess the lady was so shook up she imagined giant robots, maybe it she was having flashbacks to another time when the city was under attack, it's not too uncommon around here."

"Yeah, probably. I'll call the morgue and an ambulance." The officer walked back to their car as the other looked down on the dead woman.

"No matter how many times it happens it doesn't get any easier." he said as he lay his jacket over the corpse's face. Then he followed his partner out of the alley and went to comfort the distraught woman.

Down the street behind a warehouse three giant robots appeared out of thin air, each clinging onto one another.

Mirage groaned and slumped against the side of the building. "I don't ever wanna do that again. I don't think I have ever hidden three mechs at once, and having to be quiet while getting out of there was no small task!"

"Well we wouldn't have had to do that if someone hadn't blown our cover!" said Prowl pointing an accusatory digit at Jazz. "Well what was I supposed to do? Just let 'im kill her?" "You could have approached him in your vehicle mode! Your presence would have intimidated him enough to leave them alone! Or you could have let me approach him since my mode would be more intimidating!" "Well I didn't have time to consider the possibilities! HE SLAGGING MURDERED HER!" "We can't jeopardize the mission for a few humans!" "QUIET!"

They looked to Mirage who had gotten up. "You guys are so loud I'm surprised the 'bots back at base didn't hear you!" he changed his voice to a whisper. "We need to transform before someone discovers us, you guys can yell at each other later. Weren't we supposed to be using our comm links for the entire mission?" The two mechs looked down in shame. With all the excitement they had completely forgotten that they were in a city where anyone could see or hear them. All three quickly transformed back into their car modes.

"We will discuss this later." Prowl said over the comm. "Right now we need to find a place to recharge." "How 'bout right here?" asked Jazz, indicating the warehouse whose wall Mirage was leaning against. "I mean, it's fairly secluded, and it looks like it hasn't been used in awhile." Prowl considered this for a moment. "Alright. We'll use this for now." and he drove in through a hole in the wall into the giant building. The others followed him and found an empty patch of floor for each of them to park in. There were rounds of 'night' and 'goodnight' before they powered down and hoped that the next day of their mission would fare better than this had.

The next morning was as equally unpleasant as the first. And the rest of the day fared no better.

They all woke up very stiff and cranky from recharging all night in their vehicular modes, which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but having spent almost all of the previous day in the same mode hadn't fared too well on their joints.

It didn't help when Prowl had shouted after he discovered a cat on his hood the second he woke up, waking both the cat and his fellow Autogrumps. Back at the ark they hadn't had this much trouble with cats. They had seen them before of course, and had been told that they liked to sleep on cars, but to have one on you when you wake up and when you're not expecting it can be very surprising.

The rest of the day was spent driving around Gotham once again. They drove more in the seedier part of town in hopes that the 'cons had settled there. But trying to find Decepticons disguised as vehicles in a large metropolis was like, how did the humans say it? 'trying to find a needle in a haystack', whatever a haystack was.

They took turns keeping their eyes on the skies as well, for in a place this big a brightly colored jet could possibly go unnoticed...maybe...okay, the 'cons would probably not make that big a mistake after they went to all the trouble to mask their spark signatures. Assuming they were even in the city, cause they couldn't find any spark signatures on their scanners, except their own of course.

They had been in the city for over a week and had not seen a single sign of the Decepticreeps. They were driving down the street, practically bored to tears over the lack of activity. "Prooooooooowl!" "What is it Jazz?" "I'm boooored!" "Aren't we all?" "I don't blame him Prowl, we haven't seen a single sign of the 'cons the whole time we've been here. How long 'till we can go back to base?" "A little over two earth weeks." this was met by groans from both mechs. This had to be one of the most monotonous missions ever.

But Primus must have seen their boredom, for around a corner turned a very familiar truck, Motormaster! "Aw yeah! Finally!" Whooped Jazz over the link. As soon as the truck saw them he sped away down the street. Prowl put on his lights and siren and they began pursuit. This was certainly a missed activity, chasing Decepticons down the street, cars pulling over for the aliens to speed through, and the excitement of finally getting some results from their long mission.

Down the street they raced, the dark truck going at top speed with the Autobots in hot pursuit, up and down streets they raced, sometimes nearly catching him, sometimes nearly losing him, they had split up and tried to cut him off several times. But that's the problem with a large city, there are a lot of roads leading to even more roads everywhere. They drove him towards a smaller part of town where there were fewer roads and more buildings, and finally they managed to trap the truck in a parking lot after forcing him with no other route options.

Defeated, the truck stopped, surrounded by his enemies, his doors opened and out stepped two humans. Wait. What? Humans? Since when do Decepticons ally with humans?

The two humans had a large dufflebag in each hand, they dropped the cases and raised their hands over their heads. "We give up, just take it and let's get this over with." Wait, so this wasn't Motormaster? Now that he got a good look at the truck Prowl realised it didn't have the Decepticon insignia on it anywhere, it wasn't like Motormaster in design either, there were several small details that were different from his. And now they had to get out of this situation with out letting the thieves go and without revealing their identity.

Fortunately Prowl saw a couple of police officers in front of a cafe across the street. He blared his siren for a second to get their attention, and it worked! The two officers looked up and saw the obvious thieves surrendering and ran over to take care of it. The three mechs quickly drove away while the officers were occupied with the arrests. One of the officers however noticed the cars driving away. "Hey! Come back here!" He shouted after them, but they didn't listen. 'That's weird' he thought, 'isn't one of those a police car? Why didn't it stay? Come to think of it, I've never seen that kind of cruiser before.' Though he was still puzzled by the strange cars, he had a couple of thieves to arrest.

"I can't believe we didn't see that that wasn't a 'con!" Mirage griped over the comm. "Maybe we're going crazy and are going to start seeing 'Decepticons' everywhere." "Hey man! Look on da bright side! At least we stopped da criminals before they got away!" "Yeah, I guess."

"This incident has shown us that we need to be more careful when spotting Decepticons. Remember: Not every car is a 'con, but any car could be a 'con." Prowl told them.

"I don't know about that last one" said Jazz, looking at an ice cream truck that was passing them. "You know what I mean" the cruiser said, doing a mental optic-roll.

After the incident with the bank robbers they were much more careful when looking for 'cons, but it was starting to get even more tiresome than before, if that's even possible. Fortunately they were going to return to the base in a couple of days, and they were really looking forward to going back.

They were patrolling – yet again – cause even though they were leaving in a few days they still had to keep an eye out for their enemies, though none of them thought they were going to find them, they had been there for almost a month and hadn't seen anything, they just weren't here!

But of course, as soon as they think that, two familiar looking jets fly over the city not too far from where they are. "Are you kidding me?!" shouted Mirage over the comm link, "We have been searching high and low for those creeps for almost a month, and now they just fly right over us?!" "It's most definitely a trap, but we have to check it out regardless." Said Prowl.

They quickly changed their course in order to follow the jets, and unless someone decided to paint their jets black, purple, blue, and silver, than they were definitely Decepticons. They followed the two aerial 'cons across town, which is easier said than done, the two jets could just fly over buildings, while the 'bots had to navigate through all the buildings while keeping to the rules of the road. They lost sight of them after awhile.

"Oh, ya gotta be kiddin' me!" Exclaimed Jazz after they had lost sight of the planes and hadn't spotted them for a good five minutes. "We were so close!" "We are so close. Look!" Prowl replied. And there, not too far from their position, they saw the jets landing between two buildings and caught a glimpse of them starting their transformation sequence.

The three once exasperated now ecstatic Autobots drove over to the location, and after making sure they were hidden from humans eyes they transformed and took out their guns. Prowl put a finger to his mouth plates and motioned for them to split up.

They each went down a separate alley, keeping their audio receptors on high and treading as softly as they could for giant robots.

Prowl looked all around him, keeping a sharp optic out for any movement. Then he heard it. A slight double tap, the indication of a footstep, and it was just around the corner. With his gun aimed he crept toward the alley, whose mouth was connected to the one he was in. He glanced all around, not wanting to be caught off guard and stepped into the alley, gun pointing straight ahead, and he saw...Nothing.

The alley was empty except for some boxes and of course a few garbage cans. Not trusting the ominous street he walked forward, gun raised and ready for any attack.

He barely had time to react when a net was dropped on him. He flailed and tried to rip the net, but it was an energon net and was very strong, he couldn't break it. He tripped over a piece of the net and fell backwards, landing against the wall of the alley before sliding down to sit on the ground. A moment later he felt a painful jab in his bent leg and his body jolted as he was given a painful shock with an energon prod of some kind.

The object was removed from his leg and he slumped in relief. He blinked a few times before lifting his head, he looked through the net and saw his attacker face to face.


	5. Unexpected Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I don't remember much about this fic at all but I do remember I rushed the ending because I was lazy and out of ideas.

Batman had been devoting a lot of his free time to working on his new energy weapons. Night after night of hard work was put into each invention, he needed to be prepared for any situation that might arise. But even a scientific genius couldn't make the amount of weapons he needed in one night, and there were many an evening that he spent in his lab instead of prowling the streets of Gotham. But with every new weapon he was one step closer to being ready to catch the invaders.

Finally, after almost a week of hard work and research he was ready to catch these creatures that had eluded him for so long. He loaded himself with the necessary tools, weapons, and restraints. Now that he was fully prepared he got in the Batmobile and sped out of the cave, into the city, and into the night, ready for the hunt.

He drove all over Gotham, up and down busy highways, down side streets, through parking lots, over bridges, through alleys, into tunnels, keeping one eye on the scanner and one eye on his surroundings the entire time. So far nothing had come up.

All over the city he drove, expanding his search even more, but the scanner still showed no signatures of any kind.

When he was searching a more secluded part of town, the scanner showed something! There! A cluster of energy signatures, just a few blocks away!

He parked the Batmobile in an alley and quickly leaped onto the nearest building. He crept along the edge of each rooftop, and after making sure there were nothing of any interest he went to the next rooftop.

Then he saw his target. This was a sight to behold.

It was a giant. Freaking. Robot.

No, his eyes had not deceived him, there, in front of him, was a giant robot. It had to be a least 20ft tall, and it was wielding what looked like some kind of alien gun.

But he had no time to study this being. It was clearly looking for something or someone with the way it was looking all around, and whatever he was looking for he clearly wanted to hurt it, for everywhere it looked it pointed it's gun there too.

But he couldn't be sure of the giant's intentions, so he pulled out an energy net he had made in case of a situation like this. In addition he grabbed the energy taser as well for when it put up a fight, as he was most positive that it would. He lowered the power on the taser to a setting that wouldn't knock him unconscious, just enough to subdue him. But even so, the shock would be pretty powerful. Powerful enough to bring a metal giant to it's knees.

He waited until the titan was directly below him, and then flung the net onto him, ensnaring him instantly.

The creature flailed about when the net ensnared him, but in his fit he tripped on the corner of the net and fell against the alley wall sliding to the ground.

Batman wasted no time and jumped down to the alley floor. He quickly applied the taser to the nearest part of the robot, which happened to be his leg, and gave him a shock.

He had measured the power correctly for the ensnared jolted from the shock and cried out as he writhed in pain from the energy being emitted.

Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere soon Batman removed the taser and waited for him to recover enough to tell him what he had wanted to know for so long.

The giant relaxed when the source of pain was removed and he slowly blinked, after a few blinks he opened his eyes to behold his captor.

He blinked a few more times as if he couldn't believe his eyes. And after a few seconds of staring asked "Who are you?"

The Dark Knight returned "I could ask you the same thing."

"Your...Your not working for the Decepticons, are you?"

"Decepticons?"

"Yes. Apparently since you don't seem to know who they are I can assume you aren't working for them. And I've never known them to ally themselves with humans before anyway. Now could you let me go?"

But Batman was having none of this. He stepped up and put his foot on the giant's hip plating, making his intention clear. He wasn't going to let him go anywhere 'till he got what he wanted.

"Who are the Decepticons? And more importantly, who are you?"

"The Decepticons are our sworn enemies. My team and I came here to find and capture them. And you're not even supposed to know we're here! Why did you capture me? And just who are you anyway?"

"I'm Batman. This city's protector. And now that I've told you who I am, I think it's time you told me just who you are and what exactly you are doing here."

"I am Prowl. Second in command of the Autobots under the leadership of Optimus Prime. We were informed of some possible Decepticon activity nearly an earth month ago. My team and I were sent to investigate and have been patrolling your city for over three earth weeks in search of them. Up until tonight we had not seen any sign of them, but just a few minutes ago we spotted two of the Decepticon seekers land in this area, and while we have been talking they are probably getting away!"

"No, they haven't. They're still in the area along with your two team mates."

"How do you know that? And how did you know that I have two mechs on my team?!"

"I scanned the area and there are four signals aside from yours in this area."

"But...How were you able to track us? All of us were cloaking our spark signatures and you didn't even know we existed until now!"

"I was pursuing one of your 'Decepticons' recently and got a sample of their blood. After analyzing it and discovering it was almost completely energy I devised a short range scanner to track you. I'm guessing that it was tracking your blood, not your 'spark signatures'."

"That's...very impressive. Now, I know that you still don't trust me, but my fellow team mates could use a hand in apprehending those 'Cons. So if you could let me go..."

The dark knight looked at the newly discovered perpetrator and considered his options.

"First I want you to answer me this: You said you came here an 'earth month' ago. As opposed to what kind of month? I am assuming you are aliens from another planet, but which planet?"

"My kind hail from Cybertron. You've probably never heard of it. We landed on your planet when it was still young and have been in stasis until fairly recently. Now if you're satisfied with my answers will you release me so I can capture our enemies?"

Batman looked at him, trying to decide if he was trustworthy enough. This was a giant robot who had been holding a gun. So he wasn't feeling too trusting right now.

He tried to read the Cybertronian's emotions, but that was difficult. He seemed very stoic, which isn't uncommon for a robot, however he was most definitely sentient despite the stoney expression. But he wasn't the greatest detective for nothing. Under that mask of indifference he detected a trace of urgency and worry. He just might be telling the truth.

Even so, there were still four other beings like this one that he needed to find and determine their allegiance.

He removed his foot from the victim and started untangling him from the netting. "Alright. But I'll be keeping my eye on you the whole time."

After he was untangled the police car stood and then transformed. He opened the driver's door and beckoned for Batman to get in.

"Yes, we can transform into vehicles." He explained as the masked man got in.

"I already knew." was his only reply.

Man, this guy was good for a human.

Prowl drove towards the energy signatures of his comrades and their enemies. The two sides must have just engaged, for Prowl received a comm from Jazz. "We found the 'cons! It's Thundercracker and Skywarp just like we thought. Could really use your help, man!"

"I'm on my way." He replied.

He sped into the alley that their signatures were coming from and after releasing his passenger, transformed and pulled out his gun, ready to fight.

The two heroes ran over to where they could see the two 'cons and the two 'bots fighting.

Mirage and Thundercracker were engaged in a heated battle, each trying to shoot the other while keeping the others gun pointed away from them to avoid being shot themselves.

Skywarp was warping around all over the place, trying to avoid Jazz's constant rain of shots,and at the same time was trying to get a decent shot at the sabotuer.

Prowl ran over to Mirage, who was using all of his strength to keep the barrel of a gun away from his face.

And at the same time Batman was observing Skywarps pattern of warping. And at the right moment he flung one of his home made energy ninja stars at him, catching him right in the back.

The 'con shrieked in pain as the condensed energy withing the star was released and nearly fried his circuits from the overdose.

Jazz didn't waste any time and ran over to the 'con, pulled a pair of stasis cuff from his subspace, and cuffed his hands behind his back.

With one 'con down he turned to help his other team mates just in time to see Thundercracker's arm fall off and hear his scream of pain. He stumbled and was pushed to the ground by Mirage who held him there till they got the answers they had worked so hard for.

Prowl knelt in front of the downed 'con and forced his chin up to look into his optics.

"Where is Megatron and what are his plans?" he said in a voice so dark that you would have thought he and Batman had switched bodies.

"I'm not telling you anything, Autobum! Aaaahhh!" He shrieked when Batman jabbed the taser into his side, the increased voltage making it much more painful than it had been for Prowl.

The human glared at the 'con as he zapped him, and after a few moments he turned off the device. Walking around to look the jet in the face he gave him the Bat-glare and held up the taser, turning it on so that it crackled with energy to make his point known. "Answer the question."

Decepticons always were cowards, so it really didn't surprise anyone when he started blabbing.

"He's not here! Just me and 'Warp. He was going to raid a power plant that was here but he changed his mind! I don't know why! Maybe it wasn't worth the sneaking around, maybe it had less energy than he thought, maybe he found a better and easier place to raid, I don't know! He didn't tell me the plan! 'Warp and I came back here because the idiot left something at our base he didn't want the humans to get a hold of!"

"What did he leave behind?"

The blue 'con looked like he was considering not telling them, but Batman pushed the taser so close to his face he could feel heat and static radiating off of it.

"I don't know! It's some kind of computer chip with plans of something on it! I don't know how important it is! Now get that thing away from my face!"

The taser didn't move. "Where is it?" Batman asked.

Without hesitating the jet jerked his head, indicating the direction. "That warehouse over there."

Prowl looked in the direction he had indicated, and sure enough one of the buildings that made up one of the alley walls was in fact a furniture warehouse.

He turned back to ask his new 'friend' to watch the 'cons while he investigated, but when he looked to where he had last been seen he was gone. "Where's the human?" He asked Mirage, who had been the closest to him.

"I don't know," he replied. "I looked away for a second and then he was gone. Maybe he figured he was done here and went to do something else."

"Who was that guy anyway?" Jazz asked as he dragged Skywarp over to where they were standing. "I never seen a dude like that befo'."

"From what I gathered he's this city's guardian. His name is Batman, I don't think that's his real name though."

"It isn't."

They turned to see the man in question was standing not too far from where he had been before, but this time he was holding a Cybertronian sized hardware drive.

To the Autobots it was small enough to fit in the palm of their hand, but to the human it was the size of a sheet of poster board.

Prowl stared for a second. "Where did you get that?"

The dark knight gave him what could be interpreted as a 'really?' look and said "It was in the warehouse behind some crates, just like he said."

The tactician looked at the small organic in surprise. He had never come across a human like this in all the time they had been on this planet. He was like a ninja, who never ran from a fight, knew how to hold his own, and still do the right thing. "Thank you" was all he could say in return.

He knelt down and accepted the hard drive from the small hero.

Standing back up he announced: "We got what we came for, I'll call Optimus and have him send someone to meet us outside the city as soon as possible so we can head back to base with our prisoners."

"You'll have a hard time getting out of the city without being noticed now that you have them" the dark knight said, nodding towards the prisoners. "I know ways where you can get out undetected."

Prowl realized he was right. Now that they had the 'cons to keep track of they wouldn't be able to remain undercover anymore. He would have to trust this human one last time.

"Will you show us the way?" The man nodded and turned to retrieve the Batmobile, which was waiting nearby, having been previously summoned by the human.

Mirage and Jazz transformed and Prowl loaded the 'cons on top of them, strapping them down, Thundercracker's arm and all, and after transforming himself they set out to follow The Batman out of the city.

Now, if anyone had seen them they would have thought they were hallucinating. For the little parade was quite a sight. Batman in the lead, followed by a police car, followed by two more cars that had a giant robot strapped to each of them. So it was a good thing that the route they were taking was not very heavily populated, and at this time of night any people in the area were all in bed asleep.

The route they took was not by any means short. They drove for a good half of an hour before they reached the edged of the city.

When they were out of sight of the population they released their prisoners from their persons and transformed.

Prowl turned to Batman to thank him one last time. "I thank you again, Batman. Your assistance was appreciated."

The human didn't show any signs of acknowledgment, but he did say: "I still don't trust you, but as long as I don't get any more trouble from you then you won't get any from me. Agreed?"

"Agreed" Prowl replied.

And without saying so much as goodbye he got back into the Batmobile and sped away, back to the city that he protected.

Prowl looked after him for awhile. Yes, he was a strange character. But there was no conflict between them, and Prowl wanted to keep it that way.

He turned to his comrades. "I comm-ed Optimus and he's sending the aerial-bots to pick up the prisoners. We'll be driving back."

"Well, this trip turned out alright," Mirage said. "We got the Decepticon's plans, met a strange human, stopped a crime."

"And don't forget we got us some prisoners too" Jazz grinned, leaning on Thundercracker's head from his position above the sitting 'con.

"Hey, what about my arm? Are you just gonna let me suffer?" Thundercracker protested.

Jazz just replied "Aw, shut up. You'll be fine. It won't kill ya ta go a few hours without ya arm."

Skywarp, who had been silent the whole time, only had one thing to say. "Megatron's gonna kill us, and then Starscream'll kill us again."


End file.
